It was a great treat for all to get good water clear and fresh, for latterly the water we had been digging up had been mostly muddy and saltish. We were blessed with a perfect day for repose, the mules and ponies grazed along the edge of the lake, sometimes standing up to their fetlocks in the still water, a day of thorough enjoyment to them. All their swellings and sores too were doctored up and the shoeing looked to. Considering what they had undergone, their backs were in a very satisfactory state. Tents and clothes were mended and a general clear-up was organised, so much so that about midday, we and Ruby were bathing in the lake itself, and although the lake was partly frozen over with ice, and we were living at a height of nearly 16,000 feet, the water was quite enjoyable, and we could remain splashing about in it for half an hour, and afterwards bask naked in the sun. So much pleasure did we derive from this bath that we ordered all the men down for tubbing. They went, certainly, but the amount of washing they executed would not have been sufficient for some people.
[Illustration: A DAY'S HALT BY A FRESH-WATER LAKE.]
A climate like this at such a height struck us as truly marvellous. After seventeen degrees of frost by night, we found ourselves basking in the open in a temperature of 106 degrees, showing a variation of ninety degrees in the twenty-four hours. At 7 P.M. again, the thermometer registered as much as forty-eight degrees Fahr. Our route, as far as we could make out, lay over a large open plain with but scanty grass, and far off we could see a hill standing out alone conspicuously, a useful landmark for us to march on to. Without a distinct feature to make for, the caravan would very often zigzag down a broad valley and perhaps cover a mile or two more of ground than was necessary.
We were off before 5 o'clock, with a keen morning air in our faces, but after a couple of hours the heat became so unbearable that we would fain have halted. We had, however, to march ten miles before we could find a spot at all suitable, where, too, we had to resort to digging for water. Around here we shot sand-grouse, excellent food. Owing to the impossibility of marching with the sun so powerful, we decided to make two short marches each day, one of three hours in the very early morning, and the second during the afternoon. The drawbacks to this method were the uncertainty of finding grass and water twice in one day, and the fatigue involved in doubling the work of collecting the animals and loading and unloading them. But to march ten miles straight away in one morning as we had just done would have been suicidal. We reckoned that by making these two short marches, we should cover rather more ground each day, about twelve miles.